NEBRASKA WOMAN’S 
SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 


EQUAL SUFFRAGE PROGRAM 

FOR THE HIGH SCHOOLS 
OF NEBRASKA 


Presented by the Education 
Committee of the Nebraska 
Woman’s Sufifrag-e Association 


JK '‘Io; 
. N’hS 


Copyright, 1914 

NEBRASKA WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 
All Rights Reserved 


flPf? -I 1914 



©cusrues 





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NEBRASKA WOMAN^S SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION 

Mrs. Draper Smith, President, Omaha, Nebraska 

Education Committee 

Chairman, Mrs. Margaret E. Thompson Sheldon, 1319 
South 23rd St., Lincoln, Nebraska 
Mrs. Annie Babcock Elliott, 1700 N St., Lincoln, Nebraska 
Professor Alice H. Howells, University of Nebraska, Lin¬ 
coln, Nebraska 

Miss Jeanette McDonald, Omaha High School, Omaha, 
Nebraska 

Miss Harriet Muir, Lincoln Public Library, Lincoln, Ne¬ 
braska 

Mrs. Nellie May Schlee Vance, 2632 Garfield St., Lincoln, 
Nebraska 


Associate Members 

One associate member of the committee in each educa¬ 
tional institution of Collegiate or Academic rank in the 
state. 


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Equal Suffrage Program for the 


The success of this program depends in large part upon 
the enthusiasm of the teacher and the thoroughness with 
which teacher and students do their parts of the work. 

It is recommended that the entire program be commit¬ 
ted to memory and given in a bright, spirited, distinct 
manner. 

It is further recommended that the program be given 
in the evening, whenever possible. 

When local touches or coloring can be added so much 
the better. 

When given in schoolhouses it might be well to have a 
map of the United States, with the equal suffrage states 
colored white, drawn upon a blackboard with the legend 
‘'Shall Nebraska be a white state next November Tell¬ 
ing equal suffrage sentiments might also be written upon 
the blackboards. 

The committee will be glad to hear from the teacher 
of each school which presents this program in regard to 
the number of persons in the audience, the number of voters 
and any comments or criticisms upon the program as a 
whole. 


(The Education Committee has prepared these programs: one 
for mature persons, one for high schools, one for 7th and 8th grades. 
Address Nebraska Woman’s Suffrage Association, Lincoln, Ne¬ 
braska.) 


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PROGRAM 

Song—“Bring the Glad New Bugle, Folks” 
Recitation—“Where Shall It Be?” 
Quotations from the Poets 
Solo—“Nebraska Land” 

Recitation—“Suffragitis” 

Tableau—“Five Voters” 

Quotations—Equal Suffrage Sentiments 

Round—“I Went to the Voting Booth Fair” 

March of the States 

Recitation—“The Old Settlers' View” 

Tableau—“Uncle Sam's Gallantry” 

Recitation—Limericks 

Play_^‘Should Women Vote?” 

Song—“We'll Win, People” 


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Equal Suffrage Program for the 


BRING THE GLAD NEW BUGLE, FOLKS 

(For the entire school. Air: “Marching Through Georgia.”) 

1 

Bring the glad new bugle, folks, 

We'll sing another song. 

Sing it with a spirit, that will help the cause along; 

Sing it as our mothers sing it 
Forty thousand strong. 

While we go marching for suffrage. 

Chorus 

Hurrah, hurrah, we’ll bring the jubilee,. 

Hurrah, hurrah, we’re suffragists you see. 

So we’ll shout the chorus. 

From Nebraska to each sea. 

While we go marching for suffrage. 

2 

Women surely have some rights but they’ll never get the 
vote, 

So the saucy “antis” say and ’tis a handsome boast. 

But they do forget, alas! to reckon with our host. 

While we are marching for suffrage. 


Chorus 


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WHERE SHALL IT BE? 

(To be recited by a girl. Where that is not possible, the teacher 
might give it as a reading.) 

We’re going to move out west! 0, goody, goody, goody I 
When? Next spring, farther says. But we don’t know ex¬ 
actly where yet. Father says that depends upon how the 
men of Nebraska vote next November! Let me tell you how 
it is: You see there are nine of us: Father and mother, 
John, Bess, George, Julius and Julia the twins, Mildred and 
myself. I’m next oldest to Bess. Then, there’s Shock; but 
mother says we mustn’t count our dog when we are count¬ 
ing ourselves. We call him Shock, for that’s what he did 
to mother when she came home after being gone a few 
days and found him here. So, without counting Shock, there 
are nine of us. Father says such a big family should grow 
up on a big farm and then he thinks the west is best for 
boys and girls to grow up in and for women and men to 
live in! Father has traveled all over the country many 
times and knows how things are. Mother laughs and says, 
“I think just as father does about the west.” And so it is 
decided that we are going west, and we children can scarcely 
wait! Mother said to father today, “Richard, don’t you 
think we might decide now in which state we shall make our 
home?” And father replied, “All right, Emily; get the 
children and the atlas and let’s talk it over.” At that Bess 
and John and George and I ran for the atlas. Mother took 
our fat, brown-eyed, curly-haired baby Mildred in her arms, 
and Julius and Julia, the twins, climbed up on father’s 
knees. Then we all listened with both eyes and ears I For, 
haven’t we older children stretched out on the library rug 
for hours over this same map of the United States trying 
to decide where our new home is to be. We never can agree, 
for George wants to live in the mountains where he can hunt 
bears, and Bess likes Louisiana because it is colored so 
prettily on the map and has such a pretty sound, and John 
likes Oklahoma best because most Indians live there, and 
I want to live in some state where our nearest town will 


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Equal Suffrage Program for the 


be “Lincoln/’ for Abraham Lincoln was born on my birth¬ 
day and I would have been named ‘ Lincoln” if I had been 
a boy. Now, there we were, all crowded around father and 
mother with the atlas in father’s hands, and we are really 
going to decide where we are to live! Father said calmly, 
“I think each individual should have the largest possible 
opportunity to develop his individual life. As I look at 
you children you seem to be different in mental and physical 
qualities, but equal in intelligence and moral purpose. We 
ought to go where each of you may enjoy the right to earn 
an honest living and to protect your property with your vote 
as well as with your influence. You should grow into inde¬ 
pendent men and women who have a right to express their 
ideas with pen and voice and vote for the good of human 
society. I wish all this for each of you and for your mother 
first of all. Then, naturally, we must go to one of the equal 
suffrage states. Equal suffrage will come here in New 
York and in every other state in time—but I wish for your 
mother the opportunity very soon to express in the effective 
way of the ballot-box some of her splendid ideas, and I wish 
you children to be brought up in the broad and inspiring 
atmosphere of equality before the law. We know that each 
of these states has very strong, good qualities,” he added, 
“otherwise it would not be an equal suffrage state. For 
our purpose today, however, we will consider only those 
qualities of each state which makes it prohibitive for us as 
a home.” Mother looked up happy and proud and said, 
“But which state, father? Shall it be Illinois?” “No, not 
Illinois,” said father, “although Illinois is sure to give her 
people full equal suffrage soon. In Illinois land is held at 
too high a price to attract the home-making farmer; the 
mud is too deep and Illinois isn’t really ‘out west’ any more.” 
“How about Alaska, then ?” said mother, her eyes twinkling. 
“Alaska, Mother, Alaska! take you and these babies to 
Alaska where there are nine months of winter every year 
and where the sun goes out of sight for weeks at a time! 
Not for all the gold in the Klondike!” said father hastily. 
“Then perhaps it will be Washington,—or Oregon—or Cali- 


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fornia?'' Father was thoughtful for some time and we 
children began to get excited for we thought of all the 
oranges, bananas and poppies in California! But father 
and mother never liked to have us “chip in,” as George 
says, at such a time, so we waited. “Not Washington,—nor 
California,—nor Oregon,” father said finally. “These states 
have been over-boomed, the good land is owned by the rich 
men, the struggle between the rich and the poor in these 
Pacific states is very bitter.” Then said mother, moving her 
finger over the map, “Shall it be Idaho?” “Not Idaho,” 
father promptly answered, “that state is largely a lava 
bed where the few desirable spots are already owned and 
held at a prohibitive figure. Nor Arizona,” continued 
father, “which is composed mostly of Mexicans, mountain 
scenery and cactus. Nor Utah, where we would see on 
every hand the results of polygamy, if not polygamy itself. 
Wyoming? I should like to live in Wyoming because it 
was the pioneer in equal suffrage ranks. But Wyoming is 
too much of a sage brush desert to suit my purposes,” he 
added regretfully. “Colorado,” he continued, “has been the 
state of anarchy for the past dozen years, where laboring 
men and capitalists are blowing each other up and shoot¬ 
ing each other down! No, not Colorado.” “Well, then,” 
said mother, brightening, “by the process of elimination it 
must be Kansas, for Kansas is the only other equal suffrage 
state.” We children weren’t happy at that, for somehow 
not one of us had picked out Kansas, so we listened breath¬ 
lessly to what father should say. “Yes, Emily, it may be 
Kansas, with its great fields of alfalfa and winter wheat, 
its rich soil and progressive people. We could be most happy 
in Kansas, were it not for just one thing. There is a better 
state just north.” At that John exclaimed, “Hurrah for Ne¬ 
braska, where there are a greater variety of nest-building 
birds than in any other state! My bird book says so!” And 
Bess added enthusiastically, “Nebraska! Where there are 
a greater number of wild grasses than in New York or any 
other state, our teacher told us so.” Mother’s face lighted 
in a way it does at times and she said, “Nebraska has led all 


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Equal Suffrage Program for the 


the states for years in having the largest per cent of her 
people able to read and write. And don't you recall how 
Susan described the Nebraska skies? She said there were 
none finer in Italy than those of Western Nebraska." 
Father smiled at our enthusiasm and went on: '‘Nebraska 
is younger than Kansas and less developed. There is less 
rock and more smooth prairie. The population is only two- 
thirds that of Kansas, while the state has practically the 
same area. Figures show that Nebraska raises more wealth 
upon her farms for each family engaged in farming than 
is shown by any other state in the Union. Nebraska has 
given the world Arbor Day, which means the planting of 
trees and the creation of homes. That's the reason, chil¬ 
dren, why the little children born in Nebraska are, by an 
act of the legislature, called ‘tree-planters.' The first home¬ 
stead in the United States was taken in Nebraska. Ne¬ 
braska people are composed of the best class of American- 
born citizens and, besides these, colonies of industrious and 
intelligent Germans, Irish, Swedes, Bohemians and Pol- 
anders, all of whom have blended into a most interesting 
community. The Nebraska women! I wish, Emily, you 
might know the Nebraska women! They are a compliment 
to the human race! They were the bravest of pioneers and 
are the best of wives and mothers I The young women do 
three-fourths of the teaching in Nebraska's splendid pub¬ 
lic schools and carry off the honors as students at the Ne¬ 
braska State University! Nebraska men, too, are a fine com¬ 
pany! They have led in successful farming and business 
and are now showing great interest in conservation. They 
need more than anything else just now to adopt progressive 
principles in their government and policies of state which 
shall invite the best and most progressive people to continue 
to settle in their midst. A great opportunity is theirs this 
fall when they vote upon the equal suffrage amendment. 
If this amendment carries it will bring justice to those 
splendid Nebraska women and also it will bring to Ne¬ 
braska thousands of other families determined to make 
their homes in a wideawake, progressive state. I have faith 


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that Nebraska men will rise to their opportunity and place 
Nebraska upon the map as the eleventh and best of all the 
equal suffrage states/’ “Hurrah for Nebraska!” we all 
shouted. “Hurrah for the eleventh white state!” And 
now we shall watch with every mail for suffrage news from 
Nebraska, for that determines whether or not we shall go 
to Nebraska to make our home! 


QUOTATIONS FROM THE POETS 

(Quotations to be recited, giving authors. These might be given 
from the floor by having one student after another rise and recite 
one of them.) 

“Thy neighbor’s wrong is thy present hell. 

His bliss, thy heaven.” — Whittier. 


Ht s|s 

“The love for one from which there doth not spring 
Wide love for all, is but a worthless thing.” 

— Lowell. 

Hs * * 

“They are slaves who fear to speak 
For the fallen and the weak; 

They are slaves who dare not be 

In the right with two or three.” — Lotvell. 

* ♦ * 

Gladstone once talked to James Russell Lowell about 
the noble conduct of the United States government in pro¬ 
viding pensions to the amount of tens of millions of pounds 
sterling a year for men who had served in the Civil War. 
“I do not wish to disparage the generosity of my country¬ 
men,” was Lowell’s reply, “but I may observe that these 
persons are voters.” 



12 


Equal Suffrage Program for the 


“Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again. 
The eternal years of God are hers; 

But error, wounded, writhes in pain 
And dies among her worshippers/’ 

* * * 

“The past sings ever Freedom’s song. 

The future’s voice sounds wondrous free. 
And Freedom is more large than Crime, 
And Error is more small than Time.” 


NEBRASKA LAND 

(Solo. Air: “Annie Laurie.”) 

Oh, Nebraska land, Nebraska, 

Our state so good and true. 

We’ll give the equal franchise. 

To men and women, too; 

To all the women, too. 

And their votes none can decry. 
And for women’s rights and suffrage. 
We will lay us down and die. 


Oh, Nebraska land, Nebraska 
Will not long the right refuse. 
But grant to every woman. 

Her just and lawful dues; 

Her just and lawful dues. 

And their votes none can decry. 
And for women’s rights and suffrage. 
We will lay us down and die. 


■Bryant. 


■Lanier. 



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SUFFRAGITIS 

(To be given in the color and costume of a negro woman.) 

“Wellum, honey,” said Aunt Jemimy, crossing her 
hands in her ample lap, '‘las’ wintuh I had de plumbago, 
en’ wintuh befo’—dat was de wintuh li’F Jonas was bawn— 
I had de narvous posterity, but look laik ain’t none uv muh 
diseases seem to sarve me de way dat dis suffragitis do. 

“How do hit feel? Wellum, hit feel disaway. You 
jes’ done los’ yo’ tas’e fuh doin’ all de things you’s been 
used to doin’, en’ you strikes out on a new plain to do dem 
things whar you ain’t nevuh thought uv doin’ befo’ in all 
yo’ life. 

“Evuh sence I was ma’ied I been wukkin’ dese two 
ban’s off fuh dat lazy, good-fuh-nothin’ Jonas, en’ muh 
’leben chillun—fo’ daid en’ seb’n livin’—en’ I ain’t nevuh 
seem to min’ it so much nuthuh, bekase muh mammy brung 
me up to b’lieve dat was what wimmin was fuh, to look 
artuh de husban’ en’ chillun uv de fambly. But soon ez dis 
heah suffragitis struck me I sez to muhse’f, ‘M-m! No mo’ 
uv dat!’ en’ I ain’t hit a lick sence. 

“Jonas he hustles roun’ en’ makes de fiah en’ biles 
de clo’es, en’ Ma’ Ann she washes ’em out, en’ George 
Wash’n’t’n he hangs ’em on de line, en’ li’l’ Jonas he totes 
’em home, en’ when I ain’t at de suffragitis meetin’s—which 
dey meets nigh unto ev’y day—I jes’ sots back in muh cheer 
en’ enjoys muhse’f watchin’ how hit takes de whole fambly 
to do one ’oman’s wuk. 

“Yas’m, I s’pec’ I is gittin fat, settin’ still en’ doin’ 
nothin’, but ef hit’s a queshton whethuh I’d rathuh do muh 
juty heah en’ lay up fuh muhse’f treasuahs in heb’n, er 
whethuh I’d ruthuh set roun’ en’ let somebody else do it 
en’ lay up on muhse’f poun’s uv fat—wellum, I nevuh did 
keer fur dese heah skinny-galoots noway. 

“You ’low you thought de suffragitis wimmin was de 
kin’ dat was fyahly pantin’ to be free to do de men’s wuk 
in de worl’? Yas’m, you sutney struck de nail on de haid 
dat time, sho. Dat’s jes’ what dee does want. En’ you 


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Equal Suffrage Program for the 


say I ain’t doin’ no man’s wuk en’ so I cyarn have no suf- 
fragitis in muh bones Hi! Hoccum, I ain’t doin’ no man’s 
wuk! Ain’t I doin’ Jonas’s wuk? Is Jonas evuh done enny- 
thing sence I ma’ied him ’ce’n ’tis to set aroun’ heah en’ 
watch me slave fuh him, en’ growl ef 1 so much ez axed him 
to fotch a bucket uv watuh f’om de well? 

“Dat’s what I’se doin’ now to de ve’y bes’ uv muh 
’bility. I’se doin’ de wuk in dis house dat de man uv de 
house is alius been in de habit uv doin’, en’ I’se doin’ hit 
jes’ ez well ez he evuh done hit in his life, you heah me! 

(“You, Gawge Wash’n’t’n,, fotch dem clo’es in heah dis 
minute, suh, en’ tell yo’ daddy to hustle ’long wid dat kind¬ 
lin’ wood. I ain’t got time to set heah all day en’ watch 
him wuk!) 

“Yas’m, I does fin’ hit mighty hard sometimes. Hit’s 
alius been a heap easiuh fuh me to do things muhse’f den 
’twas to tell youthuh folks how dee oughter be done, en’ 
look laik I does git mighty brefless sometimes wid yellin’ 
at de chillun en dey lazy, good-fuh, nothin’ daddy; but I 
’spec’ I’ll git used to hit in time en’ Tarn to sot still en’ let 
de chillun fall in de fiah widout takin’ de trouble to pick 
’em out, en’ de meat bu’n up on de stove widout risin’ f’om 
muh comf’t’ble cheer to move it—jes’ de way Jonas is alius 
done. 

“Nor’m, I know dat ain’t puzzactly what you mout call 
doin’ a man’s wuk, but hit sho is a im-provemint on it, you 
heah me !”—Good Housekeeping Magazine. 


FIVE VOTERS 

(Tableau) 

Arrange stage as voting place. A three-panel screen 
will do for voting booth. Five boys in costumes of negro, 
dude, black-hand-man, drunkard and good citizen. Girl 
dressed in white stands at one side and watches the men 
cast their ballots. 



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EQUAL SUFFRAGE SENTIMENTS 

(The teacher will use these as she thinks best. A few or all of 
them might be given by several students, from the platform or from 
the floor.) 

Abraham Lincoln : “I go for all sharing the privileges 
of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. By 
no means excluding women!’" 

James Bryce: “No country owes more to its women 
than America.” 

Rev. Charles Aked, San Francisco: “Nothing since 
the Coming of Christ ever promised so much for the ulti¬ 
mate good of the human race as the intellectual, moral and 
political emancipation of woman.” 

James Freeman Clarke: “I leave to others to speak 
of suffrage as a right or a privilege. I speak of it as a 
duty. What right have you women to leave all this work 
of caring for the country to men? Is it not your country 
as well as theirs? Are not your children to live in it 
after you are gone? And are you not bound to contribute 
whatever faculty God has given you to make it and keep 
it a pure, safe and happy land?” 

Maud Adams: “When women begin to use their 

brains and think for themselves they believe in equal suf¬ 
frage.” 

Will Irwin: “The worst thing about woman’s suf¬ 
frage is that there is no argument against it.” 

Mary Johnston: “The pivotal mistake was in letting 
women learn the alphabet.” 

Selma Lagerlof: “Woman’s creation is the home, 
man’s creation is the state. The home at its best at present 
is better than the state. Woman had and has man for her 
helper in making the home. Man needs woman as his helper 
in making the state.” 


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Equal Suffrage Program for the 


Resolution Adopted at a General Session of the 
Nebraska State Teachers' Association at Omaha, Novem¬ 
ber 8, 1912: “Since the great and grave responsibility of the 
teachers of our country is the training of the youth to real¬ 
ize the duties, rights and privileges of citizenship, and since 
the ability adequately to accomplish this work demands not 
only the knowledge of the functions of citizenship but also 
the right to exercise them, we favor the granting of the 
right of suffrage to the women of our state." 

James E. Delzell, State Superintendent: “I was more 
than pleased to have the State Teachers’ Association go on 
record in favor of giving the right of suffrage to the women 
of Nebraska. I am pleased to know equal suffrage litera¬ 
ture is being sent to the different schools so that the pupils 
of the the schools may become familiar with the suffrage 
movement. It is only a matter of time until equality of 
suffrage will be granted to all women in the United States." 

C. A. Fulmer, Chancellor Wesleyan University: “I 
know of no reason why suffrage should not be extended to 
women. I know of many reasons why it should. I believe 
that woman suffrage would elevate standards of civiliza¬ 
tion and of citizenship. I am heartily in favor of it." 

Fred Morrow Fling, University of Nebraska: “There 
is no truth in the statement that women unsex themselves 
when they participate in the public welfare movements. 
They don’t become real women until they have reached these 
heights. It is a loss to society when but one-half of its 
members participate in the work for the good of society. 
Only by an equal participation will we attain to the highest 
degree of perfection." 

Dr. Lawrence Abbott, Outlook: “I am a comparative¬ 
ly recent convert. I find that almost every woman who 
faces for herself or for others the economic problem believes 
in and hopes for suffrage." 

Theodore Roosevelt: “It is the right of woman to 
have the ballot; it is the duty of man to give it and we all 


High Schools of Nebraska 


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need woman’s help as we try to solve the many and terrible 
problems set before us.” 

Hon. David J. Brewer, Justice U. S. Supreme 
Court: “Female suffrage will not debase the home or lessen 
its power and influence. On the other hand it will intro- 
duce a refining and uplifting power into our political life.” 

Hon. Robt. M. LaFollette, U. S. Senator from Wis¬ 
consin: “I have always believed in woman suffrage to the 
same extent as man suffrage for the reason that the inter¬ 
ests of men and women are not superior nor antagonistic 
one to the other, but are mutual and inseparable.” 

Gifford Pinchot: “Equal suffrage is coming, as it 
ought to come, for the good and sufficient reason that to the 
welfare of the race, and its future, the work and point of 
view of the woman is more important than the work and 
point of view of the men.” 

Mary E. Woolley, President of Mt. Holyoke College: 
“The time will come when one shall look back upon the argu¬ 
ments against granting the suffrage to women with as much 
incredulity as we now read the arguments against their 
education.” 

Julia Ward Howe: “The weapon of Christian war¬ 
fare is the ballot, which represents the peaceful assertion of 
conviction.” 

Jane Addams, Hull House, Chicago: “May we not 
fairly say that American women need the ballot in order 
to preserve the home?” 

Dr. G. E. Howard, University of Nebraska: “I believe 
in woman suffrage because it is humanly right and socially 
just. Because it will benefit woman herself. Because more 
and more modern law and administration concern the things 
in which woman has been expert. Because the ballot is 
needed to stop the exploitation of the labor of women and 
children through low wages for high service, thus driving 
men out of employment. Because eventually it will do 
away with the dual standard of morality. Because every- 


18 


Equal Suffrage Program for the 


where experts in the study of social science and the great 
leaders of democracy are for equal suffrage: while every¬ 
where, without exception, the vicious and predatory inter¬ 
ests are against it. Because wherever women have had the 
ballot they have made active and wise use of it.'' 

Mrs. Woolsey: “Russia was the first government in 
Christian Europe to grant wives the right to individually 
hold and control property, the first government to grant to 
large numbers of women any political recognition. Through¬ 
out the length and breadth of that vast empire, wives are 
mistresses of their own fortunes and all woman-household¬ 
ers can vote either direct or by proxy in municipal matters." 

Ida Rusted Harper: “Not a majority of any class, 
even of men, ever demanded the franchise. It will be 
granted to women when the majority of men can be brought 
to see that it is as much a woman's right as a man's, and 
when political exigencies will allow them to vote according 
to their convictions." 

H. H. Gardner : “A sovereign race cannot be born of 
subject mothers." 

Bishop Keane, Cheyenne, Wyoming: “As to the Cath¬ 
olic women in my diocese, I do not find that the right of 
suffrage has drawn them either out of their homes or out 
of the church, and I think there need be no fear of that 
result in California." 

Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid: “It fills me with joy 
when I think of the many changes that will be brought about 
when women have the right of suffrage. They will defy the 
politicians, and vote as any Christian man should and would 
vote if he had the moral courage." 

Father Duan, Eau Claire, Wisconsin: “The Catholic 
church has taken no position on the suffrage question. My 
personal opinion is that there is no reason why every wo¬ 
man should not be given the right to vote. Women have 


High Schools of Nebraska 


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as much intelligence as men, and could cast their ballots 
as intelligently on the public questions as most of the men” 

Bishop Scannell, Omaha, Nebraska: “Why should 
men try to keep women from voting ? If they want the bal¬ 
lot I, for one, can see no moral reason why they should not 
have it. I am sure that a majority of good women are cap¬ 
able mentally and morally of voting just as intelligently as 
men of the same class.'' 


I WENT TO THE VOTING BOOTH FAIR 
% 

(To be sung by a chorus, or by 8 or by 4 voices. Air: “I Went 
to An Animal Fair.”) 

I went to the voting booth fair: 

The matrons, the maids were there. 

The old politician, quite true to his mission. 

Was buying up votes to spare. 

The Antis appeared to look wise. 

With much condescending surprise. 

But each suffragist's grin. 

Foretold who would win. 

And what will become of the Antis, 

Antis, Antis, Antis, Antis, Antis, Antis, etc.? 


MARCH OF THE STATES 

(The twelve girls representing these states are to be dressed in 
white (when possible) and each wear diagonally across her person 
a good sized yellow pennant with her state and year clearly marked 
in black. Let them give a marching drill to music for a few minutes 
before coming twelve abreast to “halt” near the front of the stage. 
As each girl speaks in turn for her state let her step forward and 
when done remain standing where she is, thus forming a new line. 
At the close let them march off the stage to music.) 

WYOMING, 1869 

Wyoming was the first equal suffrage territory and is 
the first equal suffrage state! Hurrah for Wyoming! Her 
distinguished record can never be broken! For the last 




20 


Equal Suffrage Program for the 


25 years the advocates of equal suffrage have had a stand¬ 
ing challenge, inviting its opponents to find, in all Wyoming, 
two respectable men who will assert over their own names 
and addresses that woman suffrage has had any bad re¬ 
sults whatever. The opponents thus far have failed to 
respond. 


COLORADO, 1893 

When equal suffrage had been in force in Colorado for 
four years the legislature, by a vote of 75 to 4, passed a 
resolution declaring that women had, during that time, used 
the vote as generally as men with the result that better 
candidates had been elected to office, election methods had 
been purified, the character of legislation had been im¬ 
proved, and recommending the adoption of the measure by 
all the states and territories in the Union. 

UTAH, 1896 

Among the many good laws passed in Utah since it 
became an equal suffrage state are: equal pay for equal 
work for teachers; establishing free public libraries in cities 
and towns; requiring systematic instruction in hygiene in 
all public schools; providing protection for dependent or ill 
treated children and making mothers equal guardians with 
the fathers over their children. 

It is estimated that 85 to 95% of the women of Utah 

vote. 

IDAHO, 1896 

Idaho, you see, is Utah’s twin sister. 75 to 85% of 
her women vote. Idaho, too, has passed many good laws 
since 1896. A children’s court has been established; moth¬ 
ers’ pensions have been granted and a nine hour law for 
working women has been passed. 

WASHINGTON, 1910 

Washington adopted equal suffrage by a majority of 
20,000! Her women are and have been very active in pro¬ 
moting good government. In the one session of the legis- 


High Schools of Nebraska 


21 


lature since their enfranchisement women have introduced 
or supported the following measures which have become 
laws: providing for workmen’s compensation; creating a 
teacher’s retirement fund; regulating the milk industry; 
providing that school buildings shall be used as social cen¬ 
ters; abolishing the death penalty and adopting the initia¬ 
tive and referendum. 

85 to 95% of Washington women vote. 

CALIFORNIA, 1911 

A wonderful list of laws was placed on California 
Statute books during the one session of its legislature since 
it became an equal suffrage state. Here are a very few 
of them: health certificate law; state civil service law; 
prison reform law; white slave law; old age pension law 
and water conservation law. It is estimated that the per¬ 
centage of California women voting is from 85 to 99%! 
Who says that the majority of women do not wish to vote! 

KANSAS, 1912 

The first move of the women of Kansas after equal 
suffrage was granted them was to convert their State Suf¬ 
frage Organization into a Good Citizenship League which 
provides facilities for the study of government and civics 
among women. How fine it will be when Nebraska women 
can go and do likewise! 

OREGON, 1912 

During the legislative session 1912-1913 in Oregon the 
newspapers frequently commented upon the ease with which 
certain bills, which had previously met with strong oppo¬ 
sition, became laws. This they unquestionably attributed 
to the possession of political power by the women of Oregon. 

ARIZONA, 1912 

The experience in Arizona is quite similar to that of 
Oregon, the chief difference being that not so many bills 
became laws. 


22 Equal Suffrage Program for the 

ALASKA, 1913 

In 1912, a territorial legislature for Alaska was con¬ 
vened, and the first bill to be introduced, and the first bill 
to pass, was one enfranchising women. There was not a 
dissenting voice in either house. Hurrah for Alaska! Our 
one territory and it for equal suffrage! 

ILLINOIS, 1913 

Illinois is, as yet, only a half sister of the starred sister¬ 
hood of equal suffrage states. A splendid sister who is 
already doing strong things with her one arm. Wait until 
she evolves into full sisterhood! Then she will do things! 

NEBRASKA, 1914 

Nebraska will take her place on the 3rd of next No¬ 
vember in the chain of stars which now stretches from the 
Pacific Ocean, over the mountain tops, across these demo¬ 
cratic plains to the Mississippi Valley! Here in the west 
whose sifted population is made of the most daring, intelli¬ 
gent and adventurous spirits, is a group of real republics 
where every adult citizen is a voter. With this group on 
next November will float in the sunkissed prairie winds, 
proudly and truthfully then, Nebraska's motto “Equality 
before the Law." 

ALL THE STATES 

Hurrah for Nebraska! Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! 
Hurrah! 


THE OLD SETTLERS' VIEW 

We talked about the dugout days 
The other night around a blaze 
Of chunks chopped from Nebraska trees 
We planted back in sixty-eight: 

The twisted hay fire's smoky tease. 

The dirt floor rug beneath our feet. 

The shingled sod, the w^orn tin plate. 
Came back their story to repeat 
When we set out to build the state. 



High Schools of Nebraska 


23 


A pioneer rose up and said: 

“Jest skelp fur me my old gray head 
“Ef Fd a-ever held my claim 
“Except fur my Almiry Jane; 

“She kep’ the county taxes paid,— 

“She held the fort that Injin raid,— 

“She argid in the days of drouth 
“That luck would turn as sure as Fate, 

“That God would fill His children's mouths 
“And give us help to build the state." 

A homesteader (his eyes were wet,) 

Spoke next: “I never shall forget 
“The hard times that we struggled through, 
“The sickness and the mortgage, too;— 
“Nor, when the welcome children came 
“And played about our sod house claim 
“Who fought for our first district school, 
“And held her own in joint debate 
“Till neighbors said, ‘That them should rule 
“ ‘As raised the children for the State.' " 

So first one, then the other 'greed 
That woman folks had done the deed; 

Had held the homestead on the plains 
Through years of drouth and years of rain; 
Had given men the grit to stay 
When they would rather run away; 

Had planted church and public school, 

Had raised the children, strong and straight: 
So we're all headed fur Home Rule: 

Let the women vote who build the State! 


UNCLE SAM'S GALLANTRY 

(Tableau) 

Uncle Sam and Columbia in costume. Uncle Sam pre¬ 
sents large bouquet with placard, “The Ballot," to Columbia. 
(Columbia bows but remains seated.) 



24 Equal Suffrage Program for the 

LIMERICKS 

(These limericks may be recited by one student, or by several 
students who take their places on the stage at one time.) 


A delicate Angora cat 

Had whiskers; but, pray, what of that? 

“I don’t want to vote,” 

To a friend she once wrote; 

“My place is at home on the mat.” 

* ♦ ♦ 

“Let me hold the umbrella, my dear,” 
Mrs. Hen said to kind Chanticleer. 

“ ’Tis man’s privilege, love.” 

And he held it above 

His own head, so it dripped in her ear. 

♦ ♦ ♦ 

Women studied of home and the nation. 
And learned each to each the relation, 
“We’ll have better laws,” 

Said these women, “because 

We’ll work for our country’s salvation.” 

And now in ten States women vote 
On questions both near and remote; 
“Our banner’s unfurled 
And our sphere is the world,” 

Say these wonderful women of note. 

♦ * ♦ 

The whole volume of history doth note 
That woman has managed to tote 
Her full end of the load— 

While the man loudly crowed 

“I, alone, have the wisdom to vote!” 


High Schools of Nebraska 


25 


There was a young rowdy in Lincoln, 
Who said, ‘T have just been a think'n 
If women should win 
The campaign they’re in 
It may put a stop to our drink’n.” 


SHOULD WOMEN VOTE? 

DRAMATIS PERSONS: 

Cynthia, whose home folk for generations have, without ex¬ 
ception, been opposed to equal suffrage. 

Bob, Joe, Frank, Dick, Curtis, Jean, Gertrude, Constance, 
Ann and Jessie, whose home folk are either suffragists or 
are open to conviction. 

Miss Stoddard, their teacher, who believes in equal suffrage. 
(This part to be taken by a teacher whenever possible.) 

SCENE: 

In the school house during the noon hour on a rainy day, the 
teacher correcting papers at her desk. 

Bob (reading a handbill)—Highho! So Miss Graves 
is to talk on woman’s suffrage here next Wednesday night! 
Guess I’ll have to hear her, for they say up at Jonesvilie 
that she’s a cracker jack of a speaker! 

Cynthia—I don’t see why anybody wishes to hear 
her or any other ranting woman suffragist! Mother says 
it’s preposterous that any woman should wish to vote or 
that any man should wish a woman to vote! 

Constance —Why shouldn’t a woman vote just the 
same as a man votes, Cynthia? My father says in order 
to have a true democracy all the people must have a voice 
in the government, women as well as men! 

Curtis: Then Nebraska is no democracy! It is a 
monarchy—with only one-half of the people represented! 
Is that true. Miss Stoddard? • 

Miss Stoddard (looking up from her work)—Pretty 
good reasoning, Curtis! 



26 Equal Suffrage Program for the 

I 

Cynthia —But women are represented by their fath¬ 
ers, husbands and brothers! Father says that! 

Joe —A pretty kind of representation, Cynthia! Here's 
my mother managing our farm ever since father's death 
and sending all my sisters through high school and then 
some, and paying heavy taxes all the while. Who repre¬ 
sents her. I'd like to know? 

Jessie —“Taxation without representation is tyranny," 
Cynthia! You know George III found that out. “Our 
forefathers waded in blood to vindicate that doctrine." 
(That's what Miss Stoddard said when we were studying 
United States History!) 

Bob —Father says that no woman should be taxed 
unless she is allowed a voice in saying how much that tax 
shall be! 

Ann —Who represents my two aunts, who are un¬ 
married school teachers and have no brother and their 
father is dead ? 

Dick —Who represents my mother and four sisters 
when my father is the only man in the family ? Oh, Cynthia, 
that representation guff is old! I'd drop it if I were a 
smart 20th Century girl like you. Wouldn't you. Miss 
Stoddard? 

Miss Stoddard —Isn't it true, students, that no human 
being can represent another human being in anything? 
No man can represent a man, for each man is unlike every 
other. Much less can a man represent a woman, for man 
and woman are much more unlike than man and man. Isn't 
it true that each human being must represent himself or be 
forever unrepresented? (Going on with her work) God 
seems to have made us in that way! 

Cynthia —Father says a woman's influence is greater 
without the ballot because it is non-partisan. When a wo¬ 
man urges a reform measure she urges it not as a repub¬ 
lican or democrat or bullmooser, but as a woman. Father 
says that's much more effective! 


High Schools of Nebraska 


27 


Frank —That sounds fine, Cynthia! But let's look at 
it a little. I studied up on that point for our debate last 
month I Your father’s argument implies if women had the 
right of suffrage that they would become partisan. The 
facts are that in the equal suffrage states women have con¬ 
tinued non-partisan. H. E. Kelly, a lawyer in Denver who 
formerly was strongly opposed to woman’s suffrage, says, 
“Experience clearly shows that women’s interest cannot be 
aroused by mere party strife. Their interests center around 
questions affecting education, public morality, civic beauty, 
public health, charities, public libraries, etc.” Men all over 
the country are breaking away from party lines and voting 
for principles. Women in the equal suffrage states have 
not become partisan! 

Jean —’Tis the ballot that talks, Cynthia. Ask the 
women of Chicago how long it would have taken to reinstate 
their wonderful superintendent, Ella Flagg Young, this 
winter if the good men and the good women could not have 
voted their views as well as voiced them! 

Constance —“Influence backed by ballot,” my father 
says is what gets things done! 

Frank —O yes, Cynthia! Here’s another point for you 
to consider. It took the women of Massachusetts just fifty- 
seven years to get a law passed making the mother and 
father equal guardians of their child, while in Colorado the 
equal guardianship law was passed at the first session of the 
legislature after women had the ballot. Tell your father 
that! 

Cynthia —My aunt, who lives in Boston, says that 
women have not time to vote, that it makes them unwoman¬ 
ly and unattractive socially, and that woman’s place is the 
home! 

Gertrude —Croats! Cynthia! One thing at a time! Un¬ 
womanly to vote! We have lived in both Wyoming and 
Colorado and father and mother both say that for woman¬ 
liness and general intelligence Nebraska women haven’t 
those women beaten one iota! 


28 Equal Suffrage Program for the 

Ann —“No time to vote/' Cynthia! It takes about as 
much time to vote as it does to drop a letter in the mail 
box! 

Constance —If your aunt means that woman has no 
time to be intelligent enough to vote, that’s moonshine! 
Look at the time women have, or take, for fancywork, for 
light reading, for bridge! Don’t talk about women of Ne¬ 
braska having no time! It’s women’s business to take time 
to be intelligent! 

Miss Stoddard (looking up from her work)—And in 
this age, Cynthia, her great privilege! 

Curtis —Uncle Henry says that some men like the 
butterfly sort of woman because she flatters their sense of 
masculine superiority. But I notice somehow that not many 
fellows care for that sort of a girl or woman as a “steady.” 

Jessie—M iss Stoddard, what do you say to “woman’s 
place is the home” as an argument against equal suffrage? 

Miss Stoddard —Woman’s place is the home! That’s 
true now as always and God pity the girl or woman who 
has no home! The home was formerly the unit, complete 
in itself, sufficient unto itself. In it was done the spinning 
and weaving and making of all the clothing for each mem¬ 
ber of the family. The carpets and curtains and other 
furnishings for the house were made there! The baking 
and brewing, the washing and ironing, the curing of meats 
and preserving of fruits, candle making, churning and but¬ 
termaking, everything was done in the home! There was 
plenty of work to keep each member of the large family 
busy all of the time. Each home controlled the conditions 
within and without—for each family had plenty of room! 
All this has changed very greatly. Woman’s homemaking 
and homekeeping can no longer be carried on within the 
four walls of her house. They must go out to the factories 
where the clothing for her family and the furnishings for 
her house qre made, the dairies, bakeries, groceries and 
markets, whence the food for her family comes; the schools. 


High Schools of Nebraska 


29 


streets, places of amusement, and all else which are so in¬ 
separably related to the life of her family. Woman's place 
is now as always her home! But, by no act of hers, that 
home now demands an interest in the entire community! 
Woman is the natural housekeeper, and together with her 
husband, the homemaker! That's why she, too, needs the 
ballot to assist in making all these conditions which touch 
her homeland other homes what they should be! 

Cynthia —Grandmother says it is shockingly wrong to 
make women vote unless all women want the ballot. 

J OE —That's about as logical, Cynthia, as insisting that 
no woman be allowed to eat turkey on Thanksgiving unless 
all women eat turkey on that day! 

Gertrude —When would woman have had a chance to 
get an education if she had waited until all women were 
ready? 

Dick—A nd man would never have gotten anywhere if 
he had leaned on that crooked stick! 

Cynthia —Think of the family quarrels it will stir up. 
Mother says that's the worst of the whole thing! 

Jean —Ha, Ha! Cynthia! Aren't there plenty of 
chances now for family quarrels! That's good! Mother 
says she and father could quarrel every day if they wanted 
to! She says if families will quarrel ivith the ballot that 
they'll quarrel without it. After all, what harm does a jolly 
little scrap do, anyway? It makes life spicy and interest¬ 
ing to the father and mother, and especially to the children. 

All (laughing)—“Especially to the children!" 

Miss Stoddard (putting a rubber band around her 
bunch of papers)—To me the strongest argument for equal 
suffrage is not that woman needs the ballot, but that the 
ballot needs women. Voting no longer means ability to 
carry and use a gun in defense of country! It means ability 
to use heart and brain in the interest of the best good of 
humanity! The city, the county, the state, the nation need 
the heart and brain of woman as well as of man. 


30 


Equal Suffrage Program for the 


After all, students, equal suffrage is evolutionary, not 
revolutionary! The political status of woman, governed 
but with no voice in the government, is the sole surviving 
relic of the feudal idea of government against which pro¬ 
gress has battled for hundreds of years. Let us review 
briefly what we are studying this year in general history. 
In the beginning only the King had a voice.—After a time 
the Priest rebelled. He was not being adequately repre¬ 
sented. Then the King and Priest ruled in partnership.— 
Then the Nobles rebelled. Their voice was heard. After 
that the King, Priest and Nobles ruled.—Then the large 
landowners rebelled and they were added to the governing 
body.—Then the small landowners protested with equal 
success.—Then the men who owned no land, but had a 
stated income protested and they, too, were added to the 
voting body.—Then the men at the bottom, the toilers, whose 
labor made it possible for these others to live, rebelled and, 
joy of joys! their voices, too, Were heard and they, too, were 
added to the governing* body.—This all took hundreds of 
years! But it came! It came! 

There is nothing more certain as we stand here than 
that equal suffrage will be given to women not only in Ne¬ 
braska and in the United States, but in every country which 
makes any pretense to civilization! The important question 
for us just now is ‘‘Will the men of Nebraska on the 3rd 
of next November be among the leaders in this great cause 
or will they be laggards?’* T believe they will be leaders! 


(Curtain) 


High Schools of Nebraska 


81 


WE^L WIN, PEOPLE 

(Air: ‘^Good Night, Ladies.”) 

We'll win, people; we'll win, people; 

We'll win, people; 

We're going to win our cause. 
Merrily we'll capture votes, capture votes. 
Capture votes. 

Merrily we'll capture votes 
On Election Day! 



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